How does Kenney survive?

Cubs fire sound baseball man and yet keep bumbling business president who did most to foul up franchise

August 16, 2012|Phil Rogers | On Baseball

Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney. (Phil Velasquez/Tribune photo)

Oneri Fleita? Chuck Wasserstrom?

Those are the guys who had to go? Come on, Tom Ricketts, you're smarter than this.

Since before you became Cubs chairman, you have been speaking on a daily basis with the guy who has done more to hurt your organization than anybody, the guy who is holding it back as it treads water on the business side and hits rock bottom on the field.

Crane Kenney plays penny ante poker with the ripe tourist business at Wrigley Field but in more than a decade hasn't figured out a way to make the improvements that will unleash Wrigley's potential.

The club's president for business operations just allowed the highly respected Janet Marie Smith to leave the Orioles for the Dodgers when no organization needed her ballpark brilliance more than the Cubs (and, no, that she still consults for the Cubs is not enough).

Someday I might meet someone who can explain how he's an asset to the organization, but if I do it will be a first. The guy at the top should be on his way out alongside Fleita, Wasserstrom and anybody else who is asked to turn in his copy of "The Cubs Way,'' and don't tell me that this job shuffle has nothing to do with Kenney because he's not on the baseball side.

When big league coaches are supplementing their salaries hitting grounders to accountants and fraternity boys six hours before a game, what's the difference, really? Isn't it all business?

When Theo Epstein was being recruited to run the Cubs, he found it more than a little odd that Ricketts and Kenney had just fired Jim Hendry and rewarded one of his right hand men, farm director Fleita, with a four-year contract.

Epstein, according to sources, would not have taken the baseball president's job if he had not gotten an affirmative answer to this question: If I decide we don't need him, can I fire Fleita?

It was nothing against Fleita, but rather a question on authority and the chain of command in the organization. And in recent weeks, Epstein decided it was time to use the authority he had.

In the wake of Tim Wilken's promotion to be a special assistant to Epstein, Fleita's contract as vice president of player personnel was terminated Wednesday. Wasserstrom, manager of baseball information and a 25-year employee of the Cubs, was fired and Ari Kaplan, manager of statistical analysis (a Ricketts import) was reassigned as a consultant to Ricketts.

These were most likely the first painful moves in a series as Epstein, general manager Jed Hoyer and VP scouting/player personnel Jason McLeod arrange their ultimate staff — one that retains some of the Hendry holdovers they have worked with since November and imports some new faces (like just-hired scouting director Jaron Madison).

Everyone in baseball knew a shake-up was coming at some point, as Epstein essentially retained Hendry's staff when he took over. The questions left now are how widespread will the changes be and how many more staffers will Epstein add from Yawkey Way?

With Red Sox President Larry Lucchino continuing to wield influence over the baseball ops staff in Boston, the time seems ripe for Epstein to import more former co-workers.

Rumors have persisted throughout the season that the Cubs are interested in hiring at least two of the holdover coaches that are working under the embattled Bobby Valentine — hitting coach Dave Magadan and bullpen coach Gary Tuck. Would guys like Mike Hazen and Brian O'Halloran, who are assistants to GM Ben Cherington, still be off limits to the Cubs? We might find out as soon as the season ends.

Fleita was with the Cubs for 18 years, beginning as a minor league manager and spending a stint as an area scout. He called himself "a lucky guy'' when I talked to him Wednesday night.

"I'm very proud of some things we accomplished,'' Fleita said. "I'm thoroughly grateful for the opportunity and the people I worked with. Tom Ricketts treated me great. … I just wish I had done a little more to help hoist that (championship) trophy.''

It shouldn't take him long to find work, if he wants it. He's a very solid baseball guy who treats everyone well. He's a great listener and has opened a lot of doors for the Cubs, in Latin America and elsewhere. But since when do you get rid of a GM and promote his farm director while you are searching for his replacement?

Extending Fleita's contract while the GM's job was open was a bad move. It was a Kenney move.

It could cost Ricketts about $1 million if he winds up paying Fleita his full salary over the next three years. This, of course, is business as usual for the Cubs as they finish the transition from Tribune Co. to the Ricketts family.

Accounting by CSN Chicago finds that with Fleita the Cubs now will have paid about $49 million to players, managers, coaches and executives who no longer work for them. That sounds to me like a crazy way to run the business.